Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1887-12-01
SOME STRANGE ANTIPATHIES.


hemarkaDlc INSTANCES Nv way ol Alh-
ustration-A Dog at a Feast.
It seems absolutely incredible that
Peter The Great, the father of the Rus
sian navy, should shudder at the sight
of water, whether running or still, yet
SO it was, especially when alone. His
palace gardens, beautiful as they were,
he never entered, because the river
Mosera flowed through them. His
coachman hai orders to avoid all roads
which led past streams, and If compelled
to pass brook or bridge the great en-
peror would sit with closed windows in
a cold perspiration. Another monarch,
James l., the English Solomon, as he
liked to be called had many antipathies,
chiefly tobacco, ling and pork. He nev-
er overcame his inability to look with
composure at a drawn sword, and it is
said that on one occasion, when giving
the aecolade, the king turned his face
aside, pearly woundlng the new-made
knight.
Henry III, OF France, had so great a
dislike to cats that he tainted at the
sight of one. We suppose that in this
case the cat had to waive its proverbial
prerogative and could not look Mt n
king. This will seem as absurd as ex-
traordinary to lady lovers of that much
petted animal but what are we to say
of the Countess of I.amballe, of unhap-
py history, to whom violet was a
thing of horror ? Even this is not
without its precedent, for it is on rec
ord that Vincent, the painter, was
seized with vertigo and swooned at the
smell of roses. Scaliger states that one
of his relations wasmade Ill at the sight
of lily, and he himself would turn
pale ut the sight Of water crosses and
could never drink milk. Charles King
sley, naturalist as he was to the core,
had great horror of spiders, and in
"Glaucus," after saying that every one
seems to have his antipathic animal,
continues: II know one (himselD bred
from his childhood to zoology by land
and sea, and bold in asserting and hon
est in feeling that all without exception
is beautiful, who yet cannot, after
handling and petting and examining, all
day long, every uncouth and yenomous
beast, avoid paroxysm of horror at
the sight of the common house spider"
The writer shares to this dislike to a
painful extent; in this case it is inherit
ed from his grandfather. The genial
author of the "TurEish Spy" says that
he would far prefer, sword IN hand, to
face a lion IN his desert lair than to
have spider crawl over him in the
dark.
The cat, as we lave previously an.
nounced, has repeatedly been an object
of aversion. The Duke of Shomberg,
though redoubtable soldier, would not
sit in the same room with cat. A
courier of the Emperor Ferdinand car
nose on hearing cat new. A well.
known officer Of her majesty's army,
who has proven his strength and cour-
age in more than one campaign, turns
pale at the sight of Cat. On one oc-
casion, when asked out 10 dinner, his
host, who was rather skeptical as to the
reality of this feeling, concealed cat
iE an ottoman in the dining room.
Dinner was announced aud commenced,
but his guest was evidently i'll at ease,
and at length declared his Inability to
60 on eating, as he was sure there was
cat in the room. An apparently
thorough but unayailing search was
made, but his visitor was so completely
upset that the host, with many apollo
gies for his experiment, "let the cat out
of the bag" and out of the ottoman at
the same time. Lord Landerdale, on
the other hand, declared that the new
ing of cat was to him sweeter than
any music, while he had the greatest
dislike to the flute and the bagpipe In
this latter aversion he was by no means
singular.
Dogs, too, have come in for their
share of dislike. De Musset cordially
detested them. When a candidate for
the academy he called upon prominent
member. AT the gate of the chateau
dirty, ugly dog received him most af-
fectionately and insisted on preceding
him into the drawing room, De Musset
cursing his friends prediction for the
brute. The academician entered and
they adjourned to the dining room, the
dog at their heels. Selling his oppor-
tunity the dog placed his muddy paws
upon the spotless cloth and carried off
a bonnie bouche. "The wretch wants
shooting I" was DE Musset's muttered
thought, but he politely said
"You are fond of dogs, see 1''
Fond of dogs ?" retorted the acade-
mician ~ hate them !"
''But this animal here" queried De
Musset 81 haye only tolerated it be-
cause I thought it was yours, SIR
"Mine ~ exclaimed the poet, "the
thought that it was yours alone kept
me from killing him !''-Cassel's Fam
lily Magazine.